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A few of my friends have kids who have just joined school. Or play school as it's called.

The problem is that the kids are a year and a half old. Now I know that I am not a parent and therefore am not in touch with what's happening in the under two feet category. But the way I see it is that school is the end of one's free life. From then on, you are in the rolls somewhere or the other - at play school, at school, at college, or at work. The only break is if you don't work or if you are a freelancer. And that's rare.

My friends assure me that these are 'play schools' - kids come and 'swim' in buckets full of beach ball, watch puppets, eat popcorn, make friends. I wonder if the poor kids know that. Do they see it as fun and games. Or do these translate into discipline and rules in their world?

I guess this is how things are today. Perhaps I am over reacting. There is no doubt that parents have their kids best interests in heart.

Chances are that if you blog and read blogs then you have a back problem too. I sincerely hope not. But it seems that anyone who has anything to do with a computer has a back problem these days.

If you don't have a back problem, and I hope you don't, then I can bet my increment this year that you know someone who does (watchers of corporate India would have caught the bitter joke in this sentence).

But seriously, what's with back aches? Everyone seems to have it these days. From serious ones which need surgery or steroid injections to nagging pains which just doesn't seem to go away.

Some attribute it to bad postures or desk jobs. But I am sure that bad postures always existed even if generations claimed that they had a stronger spine. And desk jobs can't be new to what the Brits considered a nation of clerks at one time.

When we were in college and soon after that... bad backs would be associated with the throes of passion. The rare person who had a bad back would be …

"I am thirty five today. I am officially middle- aged. It is all downhill from now. A pathetic slide towards gum disease, wheelchair ramps and death" - Adrian MoleThe first time I got to know Adrian Mole was when my aunt gave me Sue Townsend's "The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4". I think I was about to turn thirteen then. The book was a rollicking ride of self discovery and empathy. I remember that me and my mates from school had a great time reading about Aidy's love for Pandora, his obsession with his spots, his constant measuring with his foot ruler, his run ins with his principal, his pains as an 'intellectual' and his chaotic life of adolescent self doubt and discovery. I think this was one of the most circulated book amongst us. It had, as my aunt wrote in the book, 'helped me grow up'.

My encounter with Aidy didn't end there. We discovered in college that the Adrian Mole series had grown and we got hold which had a few m…

They glamorized sledging... called it mental disintegrationMocked Gavaskar ... knocked GangulyShoved PawarGot behind Murli and called Bhajji an obnoxious weedBullied young Manish ... And played uglyBut now it's not even a gentleman's game

About Me

Kalyan Karmakar began
blogging in 2007 when his wife, who was tired of listening to him talk about
food all the time, opened a blog for him.

She named his blog www.finelychopped.net. The blog recently won the award for the best general food blog category in the FBAI 2017 Awards,

He has recently published his book, The Travelling Belly, which has been published by Hachette India. It is a food travelogue based on his travels across India :

Kalyan started his career as a market researcher and then moved into food writing. He is a cloumnist at the Indian Express, NDTV Foods and Femina. His writings can be found at the Mumbai Mirror, BBC Good Food India, The India Food Network and Scoopwhoop. He is a special guest on Mumbai on Demand on 94.3 Radio One FM and talks every Wednesday between 1 to 2 pm on Food trends.

His YouTube channel is called: Kalyan Karmakar and he is the co-wner of the channe: The Finely Chopped.
He conducts personalised food walks in Mumbai where he introduces the city to
participants through the dishes of his favourite food haunts.

To unwind he heads to the kitchen where he loves to play with ingredients and
his mantra is hassle-free, gut feel-based cooking.

Kalyan is a Bengali who now lives in Mumbai with his wife, who is a Parsi from
Mumbai. He moved in here close to two decades back from Kolkata after spending
his early years in Iran and the UK.

When asked what she feels about her introducing him to blogging, Kalyan’s wife
Kainaz says "I have forgotten the taste of hot food thanks to his
photographing everything on the table before we can eat it".